Controversy roils over Mexican ID

Rarely has a single piece of plastic ignited such ire or drawn
such support as the Mexican consular identification card, a
document the Mexican government issues its citizens who are living
abroad.

Mexican government officials actively encourage Mexican citizens
in the United States to get the card, known as the matricula
consular. Mexican officials say the purpose of the high-tech photo
ID is to enable consulate officials to identify and protect Mexican
citizens and to allow them access to consular services.

However, the cards serve as much more. And that is what many
activists opposed to illegal immigration say is the problem.
Several area banks and three local law enforcement agencies —— the
San Diego County Sheriff's Department, and Escondido and Oceanside
police departments —— accept the cards as a valid form of ID.

Critics of the cards say they pose a threat to national
security, encourage illegal immigrants to stay in the country, and
serve as an additional enticement for others to cross the border
illegally.

The Mexican Consul General for San Diego County has said that
the cards do not cause illegal immigration and that activists
fighting illegal immigration are using the cards as a
scapegoat.

In June, an Escondido councilwoman called on the city to ban the
consulate from taking its mobile card-making unit to city events,
saying that the cards subvert immigration laws. Earlier that month,
dozens of protesters demonstrated outside Fallbrook banks, accusing
them of abetting illegal immigrants by accepting the cards to open
bank accounts.

Banks reap business

Much of the controversy has focused on the acceptance of the
cards by banks that allow illegal immigrants without documents to
use the cards to open accounts and get loans.

Starting in 2003, a change in U.S. Treasury rules allowed banks
and other financial institutions to accept matricula cards as valid
identification to open accounts.

Bank accounts give immigrants more than just a safe place to
keep their money, however. They are a first step toward
establishing credit. They also provide access to other bank
services, such as inexpensive wire transfers that allow immigrants
to send money to their families in Mexico.

The Mexican Embassy reported in 2004 that the matricula consular
was accepted as valid identification by 178 financial institutions
in the United States, and 1,180 police departments, according to a
report issued earlier this year by the Congressional Research
Service.

A glossy brochure handed out at the Mexican Consulate in San
Diego promises Mexicans that having one of the cards "can make your
dreams come true," allow Mexican citizens to open bank accounts,
get credit cards and even "own the home of (their) dreams."

Opponents fume

Those are fighting words to some anti-illegal immigration
activists, who say the Mexican ID cards are little more than an
incentive for more people to enter the country illegally. They say
the cards encourage undocumented residents to stay in this country
by making life easier for them.

Opponents also say the ID cards encourage immigrants who are in
the United States illegally to send money out of the country,
hurting the economy by contributing to the export of U.S. dollars.
In addition, they say that all or nearly all of the cards are
issued to illegal immigrants.